Comments on: How the 80-20 Rule Affects Freelance Writers

By: Himanshu Gupta

Himanshu Gupta — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 12:42:29 +0000

Excellent post, John. The 80/20 rule is widely used in the sales profession.

You couldn’t have been better.

Thanks for such good info really helped me to know more about this

By: John Soares

John Soares — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 13:49:20 +0000

In reply to Linda. It's important to know when to leave a problem client and search out better ones. We all have to that from time to time.

By: Linda

Linda — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 03:02:54 +0000

Great reminder John, thanks for posting. I agree with Tom, I spend far too much time on low paying, poor customers than high paying great customers. Establishing a niche over being a generalist is becoming more apparent. And I know the niche, I just have to update my profiles! But since that’s part of the 80% that generates the 20%, it’s time well spent.

By: John Soares

John Soares — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 18:28:53 +0000

In reply to Lori. Tom's a sharp guy. Plus he's been in this field for many, many years.

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 18:12:57 +0000

Excellent post, John. The 80/20 rule is widely used in the sales profession.

Tom, you couldn’t be more accurate in that assessment! I’ve spent far too many hours trying to get clients back on track, and in working with difficult clients. Not worth it.

By: John Soares

John Soares — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 15:18:59 +0000

In reply to Cheryl Rhodes.

Geocaching sounds interesting — as does that butter pecan tart!

I do some outdoors writing, and I do a lot of hiking, but I haven’t yet explored geocaching.

By: Cheryl Rhodes

Cheryl Rhodes — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 15:08:45 +0000

Thanks for this post. I never thought about it before but that 80/20 is right on. When it comes to my highest paying magazines, the articles that make me the most money are about geocaching. Something I never thought would become a niche for me, but that covers your #2 point. Yesterday I was at a geocaching potluck pie event and met a woman who runs a business doing geocaching team building for corporations. I asked for her business card and now I have a new angle to pitch to HR and corporate magazines. And I snagged a butter pecan tart while I was there so score all around!

By: John Soares

John Soares — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 15:03:10 +0000

In reply to Tom Chandler. Excellent Tom! Thanks for sharing these.

By: Tom Chandler

Tom Chandler — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 14:26:02 +0000

Two more.

If you don’t keep your clients on course, the last 20% of a project can consume 80% of your project time.

Also, if you don’t weed out difficult clients, 20% of them can consume 80% of your customer service time — without contributing anything to your bottom line.